I was an IAS officer for 36 yrs, not a dull moment. Sanjeev Sanyal got civil services wrong

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Key Points

At the outset, I must say that my namesake with a different surname, Sanjeev Sanyal, has made a significant contribution to the way we look at our history.His books,The Land oftheSeven RiversandThe Ocean of Churn, as well as his latest offering,Revolutionaries, show the marksof deep scholarship and research..

It is therefore a tad disappointing that Sanyal, a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, should have come out with an impressionistic and anecdotal critique about the UPSC being awaste of time whilespeakingon entrepreneur and YouTuber Siddhartha AhluwaliasThe Neon Show..

I suggest doing away with the optional paper altogether, and substituting it with four domain papersconstitutional law and political economy for the IAS; law and criminal justice administration for the IPS; foreign policy and international relations for the foreign service; and finance, accounting, and public policy for the revenue and accounting group of services..

Later,uponjoiningthe Government of India on central deputation as ajointsecretary, the job profileexpands even further.Responsibilities includeresponding to parliamentaryquestions, preparing cabinet memoranda, representing the country in bilateral and multilateral negotiations, addressing issues of interstate coordination, enforcement of central legislation, and defending government positions in courts of law...

There is also the infinite satisfaction of having done your bitin my case, this included the establishment of value chains and agricultural logistics for high-value crops, procurement of pulses, and the (sometimes successful) attempts at stabilising the price of onions by tweaking the EXIM policy...

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